{"id":1854,"date":"2002-07-23T16:18:28","date_gmt":"2002-07-23T23:18:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/proteinwisdom.com\/?p=1854"},"modified":"2002-07-23T16:18:28","modified_gmt":"2002-07-23T23:18:28","slug":"she-aint-heavyshes-my-brother","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/proteinwisdom.com\/?p=1854","title":{"rendered":"She Ain’t Heavy…She’s My Brother"},"content":{"rendered":"

Interesting bit on the transgendered<\/a> and their quest for civil rights, from Jonathan Last at the Weekly Standard<\/i>:<\/p>\n

It is impossible not to acknowledge the difficulty of the transgender life. The sheer lengths to which some of them go in order to change their bodies are staggering and — in the truest sense of the word — pitiable. Transsexuals who are born male often go through an agonizing process to reassign their sex. It begins with hormone therapy and then electrolysis. A tracheal shave helps raise the pitch of the voice. Breast implants are common, as are cheek implants and rhinoplasty. Often the transformation process is completed with radical surgeries — vaginoplasty and labiaplasty, where the penis and testicles are removed and a simulacrum of female genitalia is created. Transsexuals who are born women will frequently take high doses of testosterone, which lowers the voice, adds facial and body hair, and muscle bulk, particularly to the shoulders and arms. Some female-to-male transsexuals will undergo double mastectomies. In the end, some opt for the surgical creation of a penis while others spend vast sums of money in the search for a realistic prosthesis. <\/p>\n

All of which suggests that at least for some transgenders, the compulsion to be the opposite sex is not merely a cry for attention or a political statement — these people endure too much. Whatever they feel must be real. Not to be sympathetic to their suffering, both internal and physical, would be inhuman. <\/p>\n

That said, we shouldn’t allow an evaluation of the transgender-rights argument to be ruled by sympathy. What, politically speaking, do transgenders want? For starters, not to be assaulted by prison guards and barroom toughs, the way Christina Madrazo and Brandon Teena were. Also, they want not to be discriminated against when competing for jobs or housing. All of which are philosophical no-brainers: America would be a poorer place if it didn’t provide these rights for transgenders. <\/p>\n

But as you look further down the transgender grievance list, the demands become less and less compelling. Transgender advocacy groups want unfettered license to alter birth certificates, so that, for example, a transgender born male could become legally female. Correspondingly, they want the courts to recognize their marriages, and hence their interests in child custody cases and inheritance. In San Francisco, transgenders have already persuaded the city to provide sex-change benefits for city workers and separate jail space for prison inmates, two perks they would like to see expanded nationwide. And, in a small but telling detail, they want to dictate the way people use pronouns in reference to them. A Transgender Nation primer explains, ‘To refer to transgendered persons using pronouns and possessive adjectives appropriate to their birth sex (i.e., “he” or “his” for male-to-female persons, “she” or “her” for female-to-male persons) is equivalent to calling a gay man “faggot” or a lesbian “dyke.” It is extremely offensive.’\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Interesting questions raised here: First, should transgendered persons be allowed, by legal fiat, to change their birth sex, or are whatever alterations they make to themselves (descriptively or physically) merely cosmetic changes (this, regardless of the extent of the surgery, should the transgendered person in question go the surgical route)? Secondly, what rights should transgendered persons obtain \/ retain in marriage and custody contracts? Should marriages mimicking traditional unions be legally binding, or do they fall under gay marriage prohibitions? Should there be a protocol for deciding child custody in cases involving a transgendered partner? And finally, should transgendered persons be given legal status as a class? If so, intentional pronoun misusage as a way to refer to (and debase) a transgendered person (you’ll recall that the Transgender Nation primer explains that such misusage is equivalent to using “faggot” or “dyke” to refer to a gay or lesbian) may take on the legal consequences of other forms of “hate speech.” <\/p>\n

I’ll admit, I’m as skeptical and critical about the use of “gender” as a category as I am about “race” as a social category — particularly as “gender” decisions gain legal footing. If gender is a social construct (and so can be differentiated from “sex”), what, ultimately, prevents gender from becoming a completely fluid category? And what might such fluidity signify? For instance, what would the move away from the essential category “sex” to the fluid category “gender” mean for discrimination cases? For “special dispensation” grants? Etc?<\/p>\n

Anyone care to take a shot at any of these? Hello…?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Interesting bit on the transgendered and their quest for civil rights, from Jonathan Last at the Weekly Standard: It is impossible not to acknowledge the difficulty of the transgender life. The sheer lengths to which some of them go in order to change their bodies are staggering and — in the truest sense of the word — pitiable. Transsexuals who are born male often go through an agonizing process to<\/p>\n

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